


Pink Ladies Rule the School (Narry AU)

by CordensAngels131



Category: Narry - Fandom, One Direction (Band)
Genre: BoyxBoy, First Meetings, Fluff, Harry loves his niece, M/M, Manicure, Narry - Freeform, No Smut, m/m - Freeform, narry au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-18 20:21:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18126026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CordensAngels131/pseuds/CordensAngels131
Summary: Harry's niece loves to paint fingernails and Harry loves his nieceorHarry's brother-in-law thinks his daughter might be on to something and tries his hand at matchmakingA little Narry fluff inspired by Harry's recent manicure video





	Pink Ladies Rule the School (Narry AU)

**Author's Note:**

> DO NOT REPOST
> 
> I didn’t think I’d have to say that but then you find your fic in someone else’s book on another site. 
> 
> To all the AO3 members and guests, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kudos and comments.

 

Pink Ladies Rule the School

 

“You’re late,” Gemma eyes him, eyebrow raised and head cocked to one side.  
  
“Couldn’t decide, could I? They’re all pretty.”  
  
“Harry,” Gem laughs, shaking her head. “C’mon, we’re just through here.”  
  
Harry follows Gemma through the hallway into the kitchen.  
  
“Hey petal, look who came to see you.”  
  
“Uncle Harry!” His favorite niece jumps out of her chair and launches into him full force, almost knocking them both over.  
  
“Hey sweet pea, how’s my girl?”  
  
“Did ya bring it, huh? Did ya?”  
  
Harry proudly holds up the shopping bag hidden behind his back and presents it to his favorite niece. To be fair, she is his only niece, but he doesn’t like to quibble over details like that.  
  
“C’mon, let’s freshen you up,” she insists pulling him to the tiny table that’s set up in the corner of the kitchen. It’s just her size and perfect for playing manicure with her favorite uncle.

 “Yes ma’am, I could use a bit of freshening up,” he looks to Gemma with a huge smile on his face at such grown up talk from his little angel.

 “I know, right?  I think she got that from mum,” Gemma grins back at her brother.   
  
Harry groans as he sinks to the floor, folding his long legs beneath him, and looks up to see Gemma stifling a laugh.  
“If you’d get one of your own for her to play with you might not have to do that.”  
  
“I like doing this with her, besides, m’not ready.”  
  
“You’ve been saying that for two years.”  
  
“Haven’t met anyone that interests me s’all,” he calls over his shoulder, watching his niece set the bag on her table and pull the tissue paper out.  
  
Her eyes light up when she peeks inside and the expression on her face is worth every moment he agonized over colors at the OPI counter.  He debated just buying one of everything, but in the end settled on these four.  
  
She pulls out a light frosted bubblegum pink and a dark shade, almost black in color.  
  
“Let’s do these ones first.”  
  
Harry dutifully holds out his hand and watches as she carefully paints each fingernail, alternating the colors. She globs it a little on his thumb and he helps her clean up the lines but all in all she does a pretty good job.  
  
Gemma sets a glass of Uncle Harry’s “special grape juice” on the table for him and watches her brother and daughter chatter away.  
  
The smells of Italian food fill the house and Gem sets a plate of pasta on the table then calls her daughter to supper. Harry walks over to the grown-up table, flapping his hands to hurry the drying process for his still wet nails.  
  
“Up you go.” Gemma helps her daughter into her booster seat then grabs her brother’s hand as the little one smiles up at them with a mouth full of pasta.  
  
“Hold still, lemme see,” she tightens her grip around his wrist, careful not to smudge the polish. “Nice,” she smiles. “Great job baby. I like those colors together.”  
  
They sit at the table, talking with her while she eats, then Gemma takes her daughter upstairs for a bath and Harry prepares for story time.  
  
He loves this part of their evenings together, doing special voices for all the characters in her books. They have their favorites and he improves his performance each time.  
  
When she finally drifts off and he kisses her goodnight he whispers, “Next week we’ll try Orange You Glad I Came and Teal Me No Lies my little snuggleupagus. Sweet dreams.”  
  
He steps outside her room, gently closing the door when he hears Gemma hiss “Harry!” and looks to his left. She’s standing at the top of the stairs and pulls him aside, quickly looking over the bannister to see if she’d been followed.  
  
Harry can hear voices downstairs and looks at her, confused. He hadn’t realized anyone else was coming to dinner tonight.  
  
“I want you to know I had nothing to do with this. It was all Michal.”

“What was all Michal?  Gem?” Harry is confused but Gemma doesn’t stick around to answer his questions.  She turns on her heel and walks down the stairs. Harry can’t see who’s with his brother-in-law but he follows Gemma, peeking around the corner to see if he can get a glimpse.  
  
“Harry!” Michal calls out to him when he sees his head.  
  
Harry has no choice now but to step into the room and as he does he sees Michal holding a beer and standing next to a gorgeous man dressed in a green jumper and jeans.  
  
“Harry, I’d like you to meet my mate, Niall Horan. We work together. You two have a lot in common so I wanted you to meet, thought you might hit it off.” Michal’s eyes are gleaming and Harry understands now what Gemma meant. He’s been set up.  
  
The handsome stranger wipes the moisture from the beer bottle on his jeans and extends his hand to Harry. Too late, Harry remembers the nail polish on his fingernails but can’t not shake the man’s hand. He’ll offend Michal’s friend if he pulls his hand back now but should he try to explain damp nail polish?  
  
The man smiles at him and when he notices it, he raises his eyebrows at Harry but continues smiling, “Pleasure to meet yeh.”  
  
“Well, dinner’s ready, let’s eat,” Gemma directs in an attempt to move this embarrassing evening forward. She could wallop Michal for not telling her he was bringing someone home that he wanted to meet Harry when he’s only just told her he’s not ready to date again. Harry will never believe she had nothing to do with this little ambush.  
  
The conversation is lively as Niall and Harry completely hit it off, just as Michal predicted.  Harry tends to gesticulate when he talks and Niall matches his gregarious and charming nature.

When Gemma’s meal has been devoured, Harry is first out of his chair to clear the table and clean Gemma’s kitchen.  As he rinses dishes he reflects on the evening. Michal’s friend seems nice and Harry likes listening to his laugh, s’a shame really, he might’ve asked him out under different circumstances, at a different time maybe, but not now, he’s not ready.

“Stop hiding in here and come say goodbye.” Gemma puts her arm around Harry, pulling him away from the sink and toward the front door.  As they’re donning coats and scarves, Harry pulls out his phone to call for a ride. Niall sees him and offers to give him a lift.  
  
“It’s really no trouble at all. Go on, cancel your ride.”  
  
Harry hugs his sister, whose squeeze contains so many unspoken messages, Harry isn’t sure even he can decipher them all. He shakes Michal’s hand and follows Niall out the door.  
  
In the car, there’s an awkward silence, so Niall turns on the heat and lets it warm up before he puts the car in gear, finding a station that’s playing soft seventies rock.  
  
“So what colors did yeh get?” Niall finally breaks the silence as he pulls away from the curb.  
  
“I’m sorry?”  
  
“Your polish, what colors did the little bumblebee choose for yeh?”  
  
“Oh,” Harry laughs nervously, “it’s Pink Ladies Rule the School and Midnight in Moscow. She likes to alternate fingers.” Like the proud uncle he is, Harry holds up his hand for Niall to see.  
  
“I got Ginger Bells and Road House Blues a couple weeks ago. Think your niece is gonna be a first-class manicurist before she even starts school.”  
  
“She painted your nails?” Harry doesn’t know why this offends him but he thought he was the only one s’all and now he’s just not.  He wonders who else’s nails she’s painting and why hasn’t Gemma told him?  
  
“She’s a right little pip, that one.  Took it forever to come off, too but I didn’t wanna remove it cause I knew I’d be seein her and she always checks to see if she needs to freshen me up.” Niall laughs at this. “Can’t stop talking bout you, herself is crazy bout Uncle Harry. Tells me all about the colors she chooses for yeh each week.”  
  
Harry looks over at this friend of Michal’s, kind enough to let a little girl paint his nails and brave enough to keep wearing it because he doesn’t want to disappoint her.  
  
It’d be sweet if it wasn’t his favorite niece, but because it is, it melts Harry’s heart like nothing has in a very long time.  He’s so distracted by this thought he doesn’t realize that Niall has pulled his Range Rover into his driveway until he puts the vehicle in park.  
  
“Well, here we are.”  
  
“Yeh wanna maybe come in for some coffee?” Harry blurts out the invitation, knowing if he thinks about it too long he’ll come up with a million reasons why this is a very bad idea.  
  
Niall looks over the console and watches Harry for a moment before he answers.   
  
“Yeah, I’d like that.”  
  
Outside the vehicle Harry waits for Niall to walk around and as they meander along the path leading to his front door he’s surprised to feel a hand grasp his, entwining their fingers together. When he looks back, Niall is watching him for some cue to know if he’s overstepped.  
  
Harry decides he likes this feeling, it’s making him warm in ways he hasn’t felt in far too long and he can’t seem to stop smiling.  He squeezes, pulling Niall along behind him.  
  
“Who else’s nails does she paint? I thought I was the only one.” It’s not a full-on pout but there’s a hint of petulance in his voice as he digs his key out of his pocket and inserts it into the lock.  
  
“It’s just us.” Niall assures him. “Michal says she won’t paint anyone else’s. No idea why.”  
  
Harry looks back at Niall and their eyes lock for a long moment.  He knew she was his favorite niece for a reason.  “She’s got good taste, runs in the family,” he winks at Niall as he unlocks the door and leads him inside.

 


End file.
